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A recent trip to Boston made me realize that, as far as St. Louis has come, it has a lot further to go.
Boston is beautiful, and reminded me a lot of what St. Louis could be. I didn't expect the amount of red brick that I saw in Boston. Homes and sidewalks and churches, tons of red brick everywhere. I felt at home. The row houses in Boston are impressive, I wished St. Louis had more of them. I also loved the basement entries that were accessed via stairs from the sidewalks.
I walked from Copley Square to Boston's downtown and what a lovely walk it was. People on the streets, filled storefronts, no vacant lots or huge, empty parking lots, relatively well maintained sidewalks and streets. It was a stark contrast to downtown St. Louis, where if you walk a half mile in the wrong direction you'd be surrounded by vacant buildings and empty lots.
Boston felt like St. Louis' older, cleaner sister. Boston reminded me of what St. Louis could, or should, be. It made me wonder what happened to St. Louis, what choices were made or not made that stymied St. Louis' growth.
I love St. Louis & I hate the whole "compare one place to another" thing, but being exposed to places like Boston, it's hard not to think about when and if St. Louis' potential will ever be realized.
Boston is beautiful, and reminded me a lot of what St. Louis could be. I didn't expect the amount of red brick that I saw in Boston. Homes and sidewalks and churches, tons of red brick everywhere. I felt at home. The row houses in Boston are impressive, I wished St. Louis had more of them. I also loved the basement entries that were accessed via stairs from the sidewalks.
I walked from Copley Square to Boston's downtown and what a lovely walk it was. People on the streets, filled storefronts, no vacant lots or huge, empty parking lots, relatively well maintained sidewalks and streets. It was a stark contrast to downtown St. Louis, where if you walk a half mile in the wrong direction you'd be surrounded by vacant buildings and empty lots.
Boston felt like St. Louis' older, cleaner sister. Boston reminded me of what St. Louis could, or should, be. It made me wonder what happened to St. Louis, what choices were made or not made that stymied St. Louis' growth.
I love St. Louis & I hate the whole "compare one place to another" thing, but being exposed to places like Boston, it's hard not to think about when and if St. Louis' potential will ever be realized.
Below is an old photo of the Grand and Gravois intersection. Basically you're looking south down Grand towards the northeast corner of South Side National Bank and the street scape that used to exist behind the bank. You can see the building at Tholozan and Grand towards the left hand side of the photo.
It's hard to stomach the fact that this wonderful street scape now consists of a bad 80's bank addition and a parking lot. Thankfully, South Side National Bank has survived and is being put to use as condos and retail space.
It's hard to stomach the fact that this wonderful street scape now consists of a bad 80's bank addition and a parking lot. Thankfully, South Side National Bank has survived and is being put to use as condos and retail space.
Is the Kentucky Fried Chicken on South Grand supposed to be that red?
This is St. Louis? It looks the same and completely different all at once.